1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a field emitter, by which method a large field emitter having an excellent adhesion is simply formed on a metal electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional field emitter has been used in various fields according to a field emission characteristic and a field emission effect thereof. Particularly, since carbon nanotubes were developed in the early 1990's, much research into the manufacture of field emission displays using a carbon nanotube thin films has been conducted. In a field emitter using carbon nanotubes, carbon-family materials including carbon nanotubes have poor adhesion to a substrate formed of silicon, glass, or the like. Hence, forming a film of carbon-family materials on a substrate is difficult. Even when the film is formed and used as a field emission emitter for a long period of time, the carbon nanotubes may be detached from the substrate due to low adhesion of the film. Hence, manufacturing of a wide field emitter is difficult.
Conventional methods of manufacturing a field emitter of a field emission display using carbon nanotubes can be roughly divided into two methods. A first method involves growing carbon nanotubes from a substrate, and a second method involves mechanically forming carbon nanotubes on a substrate by pasting the substrate with grown carbon nanotubes. These conventional methods have the following problems. When the first method is used, formation of a wide field emitter is substantially difficult because adhesion to a silicon substrate, a glass substrate, an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate, etc. is poor. Hence, much research into the manufacturing of a wide field emitter is required.
When the second method is used, many impurities, such as, a binder, a resin, a filter, or the like, are included in the carbon nanotubes. The impurities adversely affect field emission by the carbon nanotubes, and have a bad influence upon the durability and stability of the field emitter. While mechanical polishing, such as milling, is performed, many defects are detected. As a result, the life span of the field emitter is short.
When materials other than carbon nanotubes are used as field emission materials, they also may have low adhesion to a lower substrate or an electrode. The low adhesion of the field emission materials directly affects the performance and durability of the field emission display.